Create a song game and method for playing

ABSTRACT

A create a song game capable of being played by any plurality of participants. The game includes at least one deck of cards, and preferably a plurality of four decks each which corresponding to words referencing a given subject matter category. A pair of time measuring devices, such as sand-filled hourglasses, identify both an initial start time and a subsequent stop time during which a player must improvise and subsequently sing a song based upon the selected and category specific word. Each player in succession selects a card, improvises a song based upon the word illustrated on the card, and commences the singing of the song within the predetermined start time and until elapsing of the subsequent stop time. A winner of the game is determined by popular vote of the participants and after any equal number of game playing turns have been accomplished.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates generally to entertainment games and exercises related to music. More particularly, the present invention discloses a create a song game, capable of being played by both adults and minors, and which encourages quick creative thinking by its participants. The game according to the present invention is further capable of being played using words drawn from any number of different categories.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] The prior art is well documented with various types of entertainment games, which in certain instances are further directed to musical or musical related themes. Such games typically include those directed primarily to education or entertainment, such as musical education or more basic trivia or knowledge related themes.

[0005] A first references is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,500, issued to Schow, and which discloses a musical composition board game in which two or more players move respective playing pieces in turn around a peripheral portion of a playing board as determined by spinning a spin dial. The peripheral portion of the playing board is divided into colored spaces including different musical symbols or terms used in musical composition. Each player uses the symbols or terms included in the game board spaces to compose four measures of music in the major key of C.

[0006] Play money is given to each player based on the popularity of his or her musical composition as determined by throwing numeric dice and for other reasons based on chance and skill, the winner of the game being the player who earns the most play money while completing four measures of music. More advanced players may increase the number of measures of music to be composed, may compose their own music in a key other than C, as determined by throwing alphabetic dice, and may employ accompaniments selected by themselves or determined by drawing cards bearing different accompaniments.

[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,337, issued to Callender, teaches a musically related and educational/entertainment board game. In particular, the game includes a board having spaces providing a path of movement for a game piece about a periphery of the board. Each movement of the game piece is determined from instruction cards placed face down on the game board in separate stacks each covered by a control card visibly depicting a different musical note. Also included are chance cubes each having a different character letter thereon and which corresponds to a note depicted on one of the control cards.

[0008] In playing the game, the cubes are housed in a container and withdrawn one at a time. The character letter on the cube is compared with the notes depicted on the control cards and to recognize the depicted note, which corresponds to the character letter. In this manner, the player is entitled to remove the underlying instruction card and move his game piece accordingly.

[0009] Additional board games involving musical related themes include such as those presented in Ross, U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,639, in which a number of playing pieces are shaped in the form of musicians and their instruments and which also include a number of discs that receive flags with music note symbols, tokens, cards and a die. The game board includes paths representing both the life of a rock musician, as well as the position of a record on the charts and the winner of the game is the first player to advance their disc to the number 1 space on the board.

[0010] Hoffman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,561 teaches a music trivia game for drawing on knowledge of music for answering music trivia questions. Included in Hoffinan is a game board having questions and corresponding answers related to spaces on the game board. Each of a plurality of question cards includes musical questions arranged in categories of decades and the questions further relate to titles of songs, artists, and lyrics. A playing die and a plurality of playing pieces are also included.

[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,449, issued to Sowek, teaches a game for testing player's knowledge of rock and roll songs and including a plurality of cards having the artist and title on top of the card and words from a rock and roll song beneath the artist and title of the song. A lesser plurality of cards are mixed in with the above cards and are called booby cards which have goofy pranks to knowledge questions on them.

[0012] Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,111,180, issued to DiGiulio, teaches a set of playing cards divided into category groups, each card group corresponding to a different note value and containing cards depicting all of the tones of an octave of the chromatic scale. Each card of the card set is associated with only a single tone and depicts the one or more notes corresponding to that tone.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0013] The present invention is a create a song game for use by any number of players, and which encourages quick and creative thinking in the creation of songs relating to any of a number of different card categories including for example such as party names, religious names, Christmas names, sports names and the like. The overall object of the game, aside from its entertainment and educational aspects, is to be the player to create the most number of songs over an equal number of turns, and as determined by a popular vote of the other players. Alternately, the participants of the game can vote on the best impromptu song after a single round is played.

[0014] The elements of the game include a time measuring device, such as which may include a wind-up timer or a sand hourglass. In the preferred variant, the timepiece is intended to measure a time increment of between 10 seconds and one minute. In a further preferred application, two timepieces may be employed, a first establishing a minimum time in which a player must commence a song based upon a given selected word (such as for example a 10 second timer), and a second establishing the required time in which the impromptu song must be sung (such as further for example a 1 minute timer).

[0015] A plurality of individual decks of cards are provided, which are separated by category as indicated above, and which may include again any number of individual categories. In use, a player selects a given category, the deck of cards associated therewith then being shuffled and a first card being selected therefrom. The player then again is provided with the initial period of time in which to improvise commence the song (again such as 10 seconds) and then must further sing the song for a continuous one minute or more. The next succeeding player then repeats the steps of the initial player. After a single round, or a given number of rounds, the players vote on the best song created or, in the latter instance, the player who creates the most songs over an equal number of turns as determined by popular vote.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Reference will now be made to the attached drawings, when read in combination with the following detailed description, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views, and in which:

[0017]FIG. 1 is a general view of the components used in the create a song game, these again including the plurality of individual category card decks as well as the first and second time measuring devices according to the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 2 is an illustration of selected words associated with each category represented in the card decks of FIG. 1; and

[0019]FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the steps involved in playing the create a song game and the alternative ways of determining a winning player according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Referring now to FIG. 1, a general representation is illustrated at 10 of the components used in the create a song game according to the present invention. As explained previously, the objective of the game of the present invention is the creation of songs by any number of players, and which encourages quick and creative thinking in the creation of these songs relating to any of a number of different card categories, including for example such as party names, religious names, Christmas names, sports names and the like.

[0021] Referring again to FIG. 1, a plurality of individual decks of cards are provided, each of which are separated by category as indicated above, and which may include again any number of individual categories. In particular, the different card categories represented by the individual decks of cards include, for example and without limitation, such as party names 12, Christmas names 14, religious names 16, sports names 18 and the like. As further previously explained, the range of categories possible for use with the create a song game of the present invention is unlimited and the categories described in the detailed disclosure are representative of the innumerable categories which are possible.

[0022] The elements of the game include the provision of a time measuring device, such as which may include a wind-up timer or a sand hourglass. In the preferred variant, the timepiece is intended to measure a time increment of between 10 seconds and one minute. In the illustrated embodiment, two timepieces are employed and include a first hourglass 19 establishing a minimum time in which a player must commence a song based upon a given selected word, such as for example a 10 second timer. A second timer, such as a second hourglass 21, establishes the required time in which the impromptu song must be sung, such as further for example being a 1 minute timer and which is activated after the initial ten second timer has expired. Alternatively, an additional increment of sand (or other suitable timing medium) can be employed in the second hourglass 21 (or other suitable time measuring device) such that it can be activated contemporaneously with the first timer 19 and so that it will run for the full elapsed time after the initial timer (defining start time) has been depleted.

[0023] Referring now to FIG. 2, a breakdown is shown of possible words illustrated on each of the category specific decks of cards. In particular, words such as moon 20, road sign 22, water tower 24, et seq., are illustrated for the category of party names 12; words such as bell 26, snow 28, mistletoe 30, et seq., for Christmas names 14; words such as Moses 32, Noah 34, Ruth 36, et seq., for religious names 16; and, finally, words such as car race 38, high jump 40, pole vault 42, et seq., for sports names 18. Again, the selection of words is again unlimited and need only be related in some fashion to the associated category.

[0024] Referring finally to FIG. 3, a schematic illustration is provided of the steps involved in playing the create a song game and the alternative ways of determining a winning player according to the present invention. In particular, a first player selects a given category (deck of cards) at step 44. At step 46, the deck (or given number of decks) is shuffled and at step 48 is placed face down in reach of all of the players.

[0025] At step 50, the first player takes up the top card of the selected deck and, at step 52, is afforded an initial start time (such as for example ten seconds as defined by the first timer 19) to improvise a song based upon the category specific word selected. At step 54, the player is required to continue singing the song based upon the word for the remaining period of time, again such as for example sixty seconds and as provided for by the second timer 21.

[0026] At step 56, the next succeeding player repeats the cycle of steps 50, 52, and 54 and by drawing a category card from any of the plurality of individual decks. At step 58, a winner is determined by popular vote of the participants as to who creates the most songs and after each player has been afforded an equal number of turns. Alternatively, and at step 60, a winner may be determined again by popular vote of the participants and as to the improvisation of the best song after each player has had a single turn.

[0027] A method of playing a create a song game utilizing the materials described above is also disclosed and includes the steps of shuffling the deck of cards and placing the cards face down, selecting a top card by a first player and reading the category specific word illustrated on the card. Additional steps again include improvising a song based upon the word by the first player, within a predetermined start time; and until elapsing of a subsequent stop time, and repeating the afore-described steps by each of a succeeding plurality of players and until each of the players has completed at least one game playing turn, at which time the players then determine, by popular vote, a winning song.

[0028] Yet additional method steps include selecting from a plurality of four individual decks of cards drawn to different song title categories, such as again including at least one of party names, Christmas names, religious names, and sports names categories. Additional steps include performing an equal number of game playing turns by each of the plurality of players, such as ranging from a single turn to multiple turns for each participant.

[0029] It is evident therefore that the present invention discloses a novel and unique create a song game which is capable of being played and enjoyed by both adults and minors. As previously explained, the create a song game provides for quick creative thinking on behalf of the participants.

[0030] Having described my invention, additional preferred embodiments will become evident to those skilled in the art to which it pertains and without deviation from the scope of the appended claims. 

I claim:
 1. A create a song game capable of being played by any plurality of participants, said game comprising: at least one deck of cards, each of a plurality of cards corresponding to said deck of cards illustrating a word referencing a given subject matter category associated with said deck; and at least one time measuring device identifying a start time and a subsequent stop time for establishing an iterative turn by each of the plurality of participants; each of the players in turn selecting a card, improvising a song based upon the word illustrated on said card and commencing the singing of said song within the predetermined start time and until elapsing of the subsequent stop time.
 2. The create a song game as described in claim 1, said deck of cards further comprising a plurality of four individual decks of cards each drawn to different song title categories.
 3. The create a song game as described in claim 2, said song title categories further comprising at least one of party names, Christmas names, religious names, and sports names.
 4. The create a song game as described in claim 1, said time measuring device further comprising at least one sand filled hourglass.
 5. The create a song game as described in claim 4, further comprising a first hourglass representing a first initial time period terminating in said required start time, a second hourglass representing a second and succeeding time period terminating in said stop time.
 6. The create a song game as described in claim 5, said start time further comprising a ten second time interval, said succeeding time period further comprising a sixty second time interval.
 7. A method of playing a create a song game including at least one deck of cards drawn to a given song title category and each illustrating words representative of the song category, at least one time measuring device identifying a start time and a subsequent stop time for establishing an iterative player turn, said method comprising the steps of: shuffling the deck of cards and placing the cards face down; selecting a top card by a first player and reading the category specific word illustrated on the card; improvising a song based upon the word by the first player, within a predetermined start time; and until elapsing of a subsequent stop time; and repeating said afore-described steps by each of a succeeding plurality of players and until each of the players has completed at least one game playing turn, the players then determining, by popular vote, a winning song.
 8. The method of playing a create a song game as described in claim 7, said step of selecting further comprising selecting from a plurality of four individual decks of cards drawn to different song title categories.
 9. The method of playing a create a song game as described in claim 8, said step of selecting further comprising selecting from at least one of party names, Christmas names, religious names, and sports names categories.
 10. The method of playing a create a song game as described in claim 7, further comprising the step of performing an equal number of game playing turns by each of the plurality of players. 